April 11, 2007

Ok well after my night owl experience a few nights ago I have been making up for lost sleep with lots of afternoon kips :)

Today I am feeling about 85% and think I am getting better everyday. No pain pills at all to speak of today either (which I think is great!) and am definitely moving alot easier (I was able to sleep on my side last night!) as well as being able to do more things (like mop the floor!)

The clock hits about 2.30pm - 3.00pm in the afternoon, and its time for my nano nap. The kids have been great and I have been able to veg out on the lounge watching ABC kids with them, whilst I get in my rest.

I also had a call from my surgeon "Mr Kierath" filling me in about what type of liquids I should be having for the next two weeks - his words are - "anything you can suck up through a straw!" So I can finally add creamy soups to my list of foods to eat (thankyou god!) Clear soups and broths were getting a bit tiresome to say the least! He also touched on the fact that protein was important, and if I needed to "thin" any soups down, milk was a good option - and there you have it.

Yesterday was my day for my weekly weigh in - so here are my particulars...

You could have knocked me over with a feather! I thought that it would take a couple of weeks for me to lose the 5 kilos as I set that mark as my first goal. I do realize however, that the weight I lose on the liquid stage of my newly banded life - is just a bonus. The lapband doesnt actually work on liquids as they slip right past the band offering you no type of restriction at all. Apparently after 2 - 3 weeks of liquids you move up to pureed "mushy" foods for a week or two, and then to solids.

The progression from mushies to solids sees you putting some of the weight back on apparently, as your body is probably in panic mode and will grab any extra calories and store them as fat!

On a quick note - Silly me didnt even think to do any measurements before banding, so I did them yesterday as well, and will include that in my weekly update from here.

On a stitchy note - I started my pinkeep for SBEBB today, and Im loving stitching once more!

I am still on part three for Mystery X from Chatelaine designs and havent added anything to Watergarden or my Feather Fairy either! *bad me!*

It was so lovely to stitch today, it felt like normalcy had returned to the household you know!

April 09, 2007

I cant sleep tonight, as I have been having trouble with my stomach today. I think its still after effects from yesterday where I definitely traumatized my insides! Around 2pm this afternoon I popped a couple of my stronger pain pills and didnt wake up to 11pm this evening!!! Hence why Im sitting at my computer whilst it 2.00am in the morning - and COLD!

Because of the above - todays calories have dropped right down aswell. My total for this evening was only 382 and I am completely FULL. My Dr asked me to keep a food diary, but didnt give me any specifics in what I should be aiming for during these first three weeks. I know after I should be aiming for 800 calories up, plus liquid protein supplements and vitamins - but I have no idea if I am supposed to be consuming a certain amount NOW. I'm just listening to my body and sip, sip, sipping all day. I'm making an effort to keep my protein up as well, with all my liquid lunches being full of it. Ive heard of others who have had problems with hair loss, because their protein intake wasnt high enough, and I sure dont want that to happen to me!

Things that I have noted in the 5 days Post Op.

In the mornings, (especially the last two days) I definitely am finding it harder to move freely. I think that I have been overdoing it with my bending and lifting and have made a note to myself to try and stay upright at all times LOL! Even my posture is improving when sitting on chairs, as I find that if I slump I experience pain - especially where my port resides.

My stomach is still really swollen, and sometimes I can really feel the port from the band pushing into my skin - outwards! I have a fear that the port is flipping and not settling nicely, hence it makes my resolutation to take it a little bit more easy - stronger.

Scar wise - all are healing nicely. My biggest one is about 5 cms long, followed by a 2.5cm scar and 2 - 1cm ones. I ended up taking off the steri strips on Friday night, and since then I feel that they are healing very quickly. My bruises though are still there, but have now turned a sickly yellowish green. Im grateful that they ARE fading fast.

I must start drinking prune juice every morning as well - think I will start off with around 50ml, to try and keep me regular.

Its hard right now to determine fullness, from stomach swelling. I have noticed however, that I can eat/sip more in one sitting than I used to - so am making a concerted effort to keep my liquids up.

Typepad

I'm very impressed with how its all working out! I know its not free, however already I feel its worth it, after the hassle of the last two months with blogger and other platforms eating posts and locking up my PC.

I still havent worked out a few things - but Im getting there.

I very much appreciate all my stitching friends popping by to say hello :)

April 08, 2007

Ok well this day was a complete an utter blow out for me, in regards to pain management.

I woke up feeling a bit stiff this morning, but decided to forgo my pain meds straight away and see how I was in a couple of hours - not only that, but because I am still battling nausea on and off, I thought it would be better to get something down my throat before I even attempted them anyway.

So I had my coffee (down to one a day) black with 1 sugar.... waited an hour and had my high protein drink "Start the Day" A couple of hours after this, I was starting to feel quite tight in the tummy, but not like the usual pain I have been experiencing.

It clicked for me what it was, because I realized that I hadnt been to the actual toilet since the night before surgery! Well, thank goodness for prune juice! I measured myself about 150ml and sip, sipped away. Before too long, I was able to do my business and all was well in my banded world.

My girlfriend then arrived, whilst I was having a cat nap and proceeded to feed me caramel eggs *sighs* I had three little 15g eggs, and they tasted so sweet and wonderful to me, that I felt like I was in heaven!

An hour later, I was in PAIN!! and could not move off the toilet.

Those three little eggs, whether or not because they were full of sugar or fat proceeded to have me stuck to the loo for the next couple of hours, whilst the prune juice worked its magic and purged my system.

After managing to get off the loo, my stomach was so tight I opted for pain meds straight away! 40 minutes later I'm on the loo once more.. and that was how the rest of my day was spent.

April 06, 2007

Well I am really quite proud of myself this evening! I had to attend my new nieces naming ceramony (as well as her Dads birthday) and even though I wasnt quite feeling up to it when the time rocked around to leave, I made an effort and went through with it.

Really glad I did. I was on my feet for about three hours which helped tremendously with the tight feeling I was getting in my tummy today. (Thankyou Gabs from the yahoo forums who explained that it was perfectly normal - and made me feel much more at ease!)

I did masticate and I say masticate because before I ate it it was most definitely liquid, two tiny little cubes of cheese - no bigger than 1cm x 1cm each. I was a bit concerned about how it would go down - not having anything like this since my WLS, but for some reason it actually seemed to settle my stomach quite a bit. I was poured a quarter glass of red (yum!) to toast the baby and birthday and am proud to say it lasted me the whole three hours! I actually didnt even finish it, for when I put it down whilst we were leaving there was still probably a good full inch or two left in the bottom - but boy it tasted wonderful!!!

I got home, helped get the girls ready for bed, and made myself a lovely cup of asparagus soup, which went down a treat if but very slowly. Actually speaking of liquids, Im a tiny bit confused as to what I should be having! Some say only clear liquids, whilst others mention creamy soups etc... Im sticking most to clear stuff except for my shakes or egg flip like today. Not a great deal more to add, except that my total calories today was 399 - so they are slowly creeping up there!

Well after that episode with the TF "Pina Colada" shake, I couldnt seem to get rid of the nausea. I managed a glass of water, before I had to go and lay down... and that say me sleeping the morning away and only just getting up!

I actually felt as though I should try again in regards to fluid and protein, and made myself a lovely recipe from Naomi Hill's cook book.

Well, Ive just come to the realization that Tony Ferguson Shake "Pina Colada" does not sit well with me or my band!

I got up this morning (again I feel as though I am moving more freely) and thought I would have a protein shake, as I did yesterday morning. First choice "Cafe Latte" which I found to be delicious yesterday.

So off I go preparing my shake, adding the hot water, popping it into my magic bullet blender, pushes down........ and it promptly explodes on me, because I didnt manage to put the lid on correctly! *sighs* What an absolute horror of a mess. There was shake spread around a 5 meter radius (Im not kidding!) and not excluding the ceiling!!!

Thank the lord the hubby is home to help me clean! Between me shuffling around trying to wipe it up, and him mopping the ceiling it took us a good 30 minutes to get everything looking sparkly again.

So try again I thought. This time I opted for the "Pina Colada" flavour, which tasted surprisingly like "Pina Colada" LOL! I sat sip, sip, sipping my drink whilst reading my emails in front of the PC. About 100ml into the drink, I started to feel nauseaus, and even broke with a light sweat!

Oh, oh I thought! I left the shake alone and have now been wandering my house for the last hour trying to get the nauseau to leave! The funny thing is, I actually liked the taste, but it became quickly obvious that my band DIDNT!

Well, I woke up this morning feeling so much better! The panadine forte I have been given really works a treat for me, and I only actually got up once at around 4.00am to give myself some more pain meds, and sip some juice and then back to bed.

9am I was up and I felt like I was moving alot more freely. I managed to shuffle here and there (apparently it helps get the gas out of your body) and boy, oh boy did it work!

This is probably the day where I have felt the LEAST unladylike in my life. Burps and bottom burps consistently throughout the day.

My husband and girls also came home today which was great! and the expression on my husbands face when a bottom burp accidently slipped out, was totally hilarious. (Sorry if I am grossing anybody out here!!)

I also spoke to my Dr today, and was told to try and get some protein in the form of liquid which might help with nauseau, which I am still having on and off.

So from the good old food diary;

200ml of Tony Ferguson Shake - Cafe Latte - which I had hot and was wonderful - even though it took me nearly an hour to drink it all, was 203 cals.
125ml of V8 Apple, Plum Juice - 57 cals
200ml of Cauliflower Soup, which I had to keep re-heating throughout the day to get it down - 90 cals
4 glasses of water
1 black coffee - 1 sugar - 20 cals

Not a good day... When I woke up I felt ok, and thought to myself... lets lower your pain meds today, your feeling fine. What an idiot I was!!

At times during the day I felt as though I had some one sitting on my stomach, and that I couldnt get a deep breath! (which I believe was the gas pain everybody talks about) I tried some bonox (which is just beef broth) and had my first sliming experience! I'm thinking to myself "my god, what have I let myself in for here!!!"

It was really bizzare - about 5 minutes after sipping my broth, my mouth was full of spit (gross I know!) and I really did feel as though I was going to vomit. I made my way to the bathroom, lent on the vanity and let out the most gigantic burp that I have ever made!! I actually looked around, waiting for my Mum to come running in to see what the horrendous noise was all about.

But the relief!!!!! Lordy, lordy - it was fantastic!

Decided against being such a dill, and that I would have my pain meds every 4 hours on the dot!!

Needless to say the later half of the day was much better going for me!

I slept for most of the day, and actually didnt end up getting out of bed until around 7pm where I felt really good.